UM Study: Small Montana Tourism Communities Struggle With Housing

October 15, 2018 By

MISSOULA – Residents of Gardiner struggle with their fame as a gateway community to the world’s first national park, Yellowstone. This struggle, highlighted in a before-and-after study of infrastructure development conducted by the University of Montana’s Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research, revolves around housing.

ITRR’s study assessed quality of life and image perceptions of Gardiner by residents, as well as support and attachment to their community before and after changes within it.

The study took place after “The Gardiner Gateway Project,” a partnership between local, state and federal agencies to restore and enhance the original year-round entrance to Yellowstone National Park and Gardiner. The project focused on sustainable infrastructure, tourism and economic development, including pedestrian-friendly zones, a historic downtown district, a welcome center with public restrooms and information, and improved signage.

“It’s not often that a before-and-after study is conducted for a community, so this was an excellent opportunity to see if resident attitudes changed,” ITRR Director Norma Nickerson said. “And attitudes toward some aspects of their community certainly did change.”

Over a five-year span, some quality-of-life attributes improved, while others decreased, but many residents cited the same issues.

“Looking at the data and the comments written by the residents, it appeared that the cost of housing, availability of housing and the increase in short-term rental of housing became a bigger concern to nearly everyone in this small community,” Nickerson said. “And, honestly, I really wasn’t expecting such strong emotions on this issue, but it was evident in the data.”

Fifty-six percent of Gardiner residents said availability of housing was extremely important in 2013. Importance grew to 70 percent in 2018, but resident satisfaction with housing in Gardiner went down 12 percent. Housing availability had the lowest score of all quality-of-life indicators for residents and had significantly decreased in five years.

In the study, Gardiner residents were quick to point out short-term rentals as a likely contributor to the housing concern. As short-term vacation rentals have risen in popularity throughout many cities, towns in Montana are no exception.

“For several years, Whitefish has experienced increasing housing prices, which have made it harder for the people who work in Whitefish to be able to live in Whitefish,” said Rhonda Fitzgerald, a small inn owner. “The problem stems from the sales of homes that are then converted from residential into short-term rentals, which decreases the available housing inventory, increases the cost of housing and, in turn, sends local employees hunting for housing outside of our community.”

Although housing was a main concern for participants in the ITRR Gardiner study, residents heralded some changes in the town as good. Residents’ satisfaction with Gardiner’s economy went up significantly from 2013 to 2018. Sixty-one percent of residents agreed that the resort tax has benefited Gardiner, 45 percent thought the new Yellowstone entrance made Gardiner a better community and 47 percent liked the recent infrastructure changes within Gardiner. While image perception on 10 quality-of-life attributes did not change, residents’ image of ample sidewalks and well-maintained roads increased significantly in 2018.

Although the number of residents who thought the future of Gardiner looks promising significantly dropped between 2013 and 2018, many responded they would be sorry to leave and would still rather live in Gardiner than elsewhere.

According to Guengerich, the housing shortage has helped community members come together to problem-solve the issue.

“Businesses and private residents have met regularly to explore out-of-the-box solutions,” he said. “There are a lot of layers to the issue, and there’s no quick-and-easy remedy, but it’s encouraging to see that much of our community is committed to digging in and tackling the housing problem.”

ITRR conducted the studies in June 2013 and 2018 as a door-to-door survey of all Gardiner residents, achieving a 60-percent response rate for residents in both years with nearly identical demographics.